Dear List Members, Yes, the Minnesota Historical Society has many of the St. Peter State Hospital (and other state hospitals as well) patient/resident records, dating from the 1860s. The records, for the most part are quite detailed, and contain lots of genealogical data, including birthplace, birth dates, names of spouses and children, and sometime other relatives and friends of the patient. Usually the case files give detailed accounts of the reason for hospitalization /confinement. In some cases there are even photographs of the individuals. As you can expect, privacy laws protect access to files for at least 75 years, but if your ancestor was hospitalized before that time, you should likely be able to access the records, and find some interesting data. Last year, in the St. Peter records, (which are in original format, not microfilmed) I read about a distant relative who had been confined at St. Peter Hospital in the early 1870s. The data was very enlightening, and filled with wonderful detail about the weeks and months before his hospitalization. By the way, everyone should also know that in the past, it did not take actual mental illness to be admitted to a State Hospital. Senility (Alzheimer's), Spendthrifts, Alcoholism, etc. were all reasons someone could be confined in a State operated hospital. Most of the commitments were handled by the Probate Court (District Court) in the various counties, and that is where to find the indexes in most cases. Do you think no one in your family spent time in a state hospital? My "fairly sane", middle class family, living in Ramsey County from the 1880s, had more than a dozen commitments to State institutions during the last 125 years. They are records worth pursuing for everyone doing genealogical research. If you ignore them, its your loss. Hope this helps. Best regards, Jim Sazevich, Historian St. Paul, Minnesota